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ARMY MEN BELIEVE IN THOROUGHBRED The muchmaligned thoroughbred is now finding a friend In the Government of the United States Tho wholesale stamping out of racing has become a menace that has awakened the Army Department to the crying need for better horses for the service ami it has been shown that the thoroughbred is the one horse that is calculated to produce what is needed for both the cavalry and the artillery The havoc that has been wrought to the Kentucky breeding farms by reason of the legislation prohibiting racing has been directly resjKinsible for a woeful shortage in suitable army mounts and it is conceded that tha only thing that will restore the breeding Interests is the restoration of the sport of racing Ever since horses have been bred the race course has been the only testing ground and It will continue to be the testing ground as long as a horse Is left It is the race course that is the crucible where courage stam ¬ ina and speed the three requisites of all horses have the final test and without the race course the horse degenerateThe Is lx und to degenerate The army is now taking a lively Interest In the subject and General Wood has pointed out what the sport means for the conservation of the horse In America At present the amateur meetings which arc all that New York has left offer races for the army ofiicers and their horses and the eagerness with which these races fill with entries Is proof enough of their popularity and Importance They will surely be continued but unless there Is a re ¬ turn of more and more profitable racing than la offered by the hunt clubs it Is only a question oC time when lack of horses themselves will cripple evOn these events eventsIn In this connection It is worth while to observe that In the recent fourteenmile test conducted by the Washington Hunt and Riding Club the first three horses to finish were thoroughbreds though there were coldblooded horses in the company that on general confirmation came up to every require ¬ ment of tiie army standard and some of them were heavier and apparently better able to stand the lone strain than thu blueblooded ones Exchange
